Sunday Quote: Charles Darwin on Doubt

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Sunday Quote: Charles Darwin on Doubt

"With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?"

- Charles Darwin, Letter to W. Graham July 3, 1881

[HT:RkBall]

3 comments :

bossmanham said...: Hence, the awesomeness of the EAAN is born.; Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 10:06:00 PM GMT+1
Brian said...: For those who are wondering, EAAN is the Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism that Alvin Plantinga elaborates on here.; Monday, August 9, 2010 at 10:30:00 PM GMT+1
pds said...: I might be worth noting that this quote is subtly out of context. If you read the whole quote, is seems Darwin is not talking about his ability to reason, but rather his intuition. Darwin calls it his "inward conviction". See this post at TWeb for the full quote and explaination: http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showpost.php?p=1852128&postcount=4

Note: Plantinga and others are using this quote as an interesting device of communication but thats it. Darwin, as far as I know, didn't have "Darwin's Doubt" as EAAN defines it.

-Paul; Monday, August 16, 2010 at 10:12:00 AM GMT+1